To millions, he is the eccentric and slightly dishevelled TV sleuth Jonathan Creek.

But last night actor Alan Davies was trying to live down his starring role in a rather less glamorous drama.

It took place at 2am outside the Groucho Club in the West End of London when a vagrant approached him, apparently wanting to shake his hand.

Davies, who admits he had had too much to drink, ended up seizing the man, sinking his teeth into his ear and having to be dragged away by friends.

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The victim, 40-year-old Paul McElfatrick, spoke yesterday of his agony as he tried to fight off the Dracula-style attack.

He said he walked up to Davies, calling him by his TV character's name, which appeared to anger him.

"He almost spat the words, 'My name's Alan. You know my name - Alan. What's my name? It's Alan'," he said. "Then he suddenly went for my left ear.

"It was incredibly painful. I shrieked and my eyes were watering. He hung on and drew blood.'

He said the biting continued for about 13 seconds. "I was shaking with shock afterwards. I still can't sleep on that side of my head."

McElfatrick, a former shop worker who spends his days begging on the streets of the capital, says he will not be pressing charges against the actor.

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Davies, 41, a millionaire, who is also a panellist on BBC1's QI show, has apologised for his actions, saying he was "upset and emotional" after attending the funeral of Jonathan Creek producer, Verity Lambert.

He insisted McElfatrick had provoked him with a tirade of verbal abuse.

"I remember this guy coming up and wanting to talk," he said. "After a while he started getting aggressive. He began calling me the 'c' word and other names.

"I lost it a bit and we had something of a tussle. I didn't realise he was homeless.

"I was very upset and emotional. I had a lot to drink over many hours. Far too much really and a lot more than normal but it was an upsetting day.

"The next morning I texted my friend to apologise and find out exactly what happened. I'm not normally an aggressive guy."

After being informed his attack may have been captured on CCTV, Davies added: "I guess this isn't going to look good, is it?

"The last thing I want is another negative story about 'that obnoxious Jonathan Creek star'. Oh God what a nightmare."

Despite Davies's affable TV persona, colleagues say that off-camera he is a gloomier character and "a bit of a grumbler".

"Alan's cup is always half empty," said one. "He moans about acting because it makes him tired, he moans about the quality of the scripts and he's notoriously prickly."

The Essex-born son of an accountant lives in a £1.4million townhouse in North London with literary agent Kate Maskell, whom he married earlier this year.

The wedding followed a rocky two-year romance with Absolutely Fabulous star Julia Sawalha, whom he met on the set of Jonathan Creek in 2002.

Their relationship led to Miss Sawalha falling out with her older sister, TV presenter Nadia, who called Davies a "miserable git".

Another former girlfriend described him as a Jekyll and Hyde character - charming and funny one moment, miserable the next.

His unsavoury behaviour outside the Groucho Club puts him in a rather exclusive club.

In 1997 American boxer Mike Tyson famously bit a chunk out of the ear of his opponent Evander Holyfield, resulting in the fight being called off. He was banned for a year.

Ten years ago footballer-turned-Hollywood-star Vinnie Jones clamped his jaws around a journalist's nose during a drunken night out in Dublin.

The last series of Jonathan Creek ended in 2004, although the show is currently being repeated on satellite television.

The makers of QI, the cerebral comedy show hosted by Stephen Fry, said last night there were no plans to drop Davies from the line-up.